A Rabbit wearing a Eyepatch
by Variety1600
Summary: One day Kaneki Ken is enjoying a perfectly normal day at Anteiku. When he finds out that the girl that treats him like crap, actually has a pretty big crush on him! How will this change the relationship of Kaneki and Touka? and even Hide?
1. Chapter 1

**A Rabbit wearing an Black Eyepatch.**

The day was like any other day in Anteiku. The sun was bright and sunny, the place was full of customers as usual, the employees were scrambling around the place getting their jobs done, and everyone was in good moods. Everything was fine, until something happened...

"Hey! watch where your going!'' the sudden bump made the dishes Kaneki was carrying fall and crack into small translucent pieces.

"B-But Touka, I was here first.'' he spoke with a scratchy voice, like something was caught in it.

"Well pay more attention next time!'' Touka stormed off so quickly it was like she was being chased. Everyone in the shop turned to catch an eye of their little scene. Kaneki never enjoyed when he was the center of attention, it was like a never ending spotlight. That's the reason he played the leading role in the school play, to reduce this problem; but to his surprise to didn't work.

"What's up Kaneki!?'' he looked and saw a very familiar face, Hide. He always wore that same smile the never faded.

"Hey Hide.." as he spoke Hide must've picked up the sadness of the recent event.

"Kaneki, do you have a minute?"

"Y-Yeah." he followed his friend to very back of the shop away from all the customers.

Hide spoke with confidence "Kaneki, I was outside when I heard Touka yelling at you in front of everyone."

Kaneki almost froze when he heard those words. Growing up he was always embarrassed, but one thing we hated even more was letting Hide know he was embarrassed.

"You did!?'' Hide nodded.

"You can't keep living like this, you need to start standing up for yourself.

Hide was right, deep down he always wanted to tell the bullies off, but it was the act of pulling up courage he just didn't have. It was easy for Hide, making friends, laughing and telling every joke, while he always had his nose in some book.

"But I just can't.''

"Yes, you can!"

"Just pretend your one of those big buff characters from your books, just like Goku!."

"Hide, Dragon Ball Z is just a t.v show."

"But it still has many valuable life lessons."

Kaneki couldn't help but laugh at his friend's corny joke. Hide could always make him laugh when he was feeling down.

"Ok, I'll try." It was true, Kaneki was going to try to gather up the small amount of courage he had to finally claim his spot in the world. He was so sick of being treated like a sponge absorbing all the insults and threats that other people threw at him. Hide quickly left his seat, checked his phone, then bolted out the door.

"Wait, your not going to stay and order something? Kaneki called out desperately.

"Can't, I got a date with a super cute girl!" He waved then continued running until his body was no longer in Kaneki's field of view. Kaneki stepped back in the shop to finish the rest of his work, this time, with a new found confidence.

Later the night Touka caught herself on the bed staring at the transparent raindrops collecting on her window. She bent down and checked her clock, it read "1:30 am"

"Dammit..." Her habit of staying up late was getting worse each day. Normally she would stay up late because of her trouble sleeping, but this time she found herself recalling all the times she embarrassed Kaneki. She really didn't mean to treat him so bad, it was just ever since childhood she had trouble expressing her feelings. In fact, over the last few days she actually took a liking to him, but sometimes she wondered if he liked her the way she liked him.

"It's too late for this.." Touka checked her clocked one more time, before crying herself to sleep, something she hadn't done since her father died.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Kaneki was up pretty early the next day, he was likely one of the first up, besides the manager of course. Kaneki made his way towards the window and pulled the thin string to raise the crisp white blinds.

"Today really is a beautiful day." The birds were full of song, flowers were starting to grow, butterflies all around, He took a minute to enjoy the scene before him. After ironing his clean white shirt, he slipped it on the dark vest, and lastly his deep red tie; while slipping on his shoes he heard a hollow knock on the other side of his door.

"Kaneki, 20 minutes before we open."

"Ok, ." Mr. Yomo nodded then softly closed the door. Kaneki always admired him. He was strong, silent, and could protect himself when needed. Something Kaneki always wanted to accomplish. He recalled his conversation with Hide before leaving his room to start work.

"OK, today I'll finally try to stand up for myself." He took a deep breathe, then confidently walked to the stairs leading to the shop. On his way down the hallway he saw Touka leaving her room pretty late.

"Hello"

"Hey..." She sounded irritated, her hair was everywhere, Yep. Today wasn't going to go well for him.

"Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Kaneki couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Shut up.."

"You should get ready, we open in 10 minutes." He softly patted her on the shoulder. As he walked away their hands nearly touched, almost like she way trying to hold his hand. Something told him to turn around, he whipped around and could've swore he saw her covering her face to hide her cheeks. He looked closely, were they red? was she blushing? He didn't let it bother him, he continued walking down the stairs and saw Nishiki sweeping.

"Good mourning." It took Kaneki by surprise to hear Nishiki speaking first.

"Your in a good mood today."

"I have to be, today is my anniversary with Kimi."

"Oh congratulations." Kaneki thought to himself. It must be nice to have someone care for you like no one else does. He'd never been good at talking to girls on a romantic level. Other than speaking to Touka on a regular basis. Could he have a relationship with Touka? He remembered her blushing in the hallway, did she have feelings for him that he didn't know about? He stood around and pondered on the idea for while. While thinking he felt a roll of newspaper hit him lightly on the head.

"Ouch."

"Stop thinking and get working." Touka stood behind him neatly dressed and ready to work.

"Wow, you get ready fast."

"Y-Yeah..." And there it was again. She was blushing and for the first time she skipped over her words. He knew they were friends, but she was definitely showing signs of affection. She must've caught him staring and quickly changed the conversation.

"Hinami, could you switch the sign?"

"Ok big sister!." She left her coloring book at the table and quickly got up switching the sign from "Closed" to "Open."

"Did it!"

"Thank you." Touka smiled, it was such a rare scene. Maybe he thought, maybe he could date her.

The rest of the day went by smoothly. It wasn't as crazy as yesterday and there weren't any broken dishes. Kaneki was going to change his clothes but he saw Touka sitting alone looking at the sunset. Kaneki walked over and took a seat next to her. Normally he would've gotten punched, so something was definitely up with her.

"The Sunset really is beautiful" When she spoke he looked over and saw a tear fall. He almost choked, what was he supposed to do now? He'd never read a book about this stuff, or never been there to comfort anyone. So he did what he felt was right.

"Yeah, it is." He threw a quick glance and saw her hand on the table slowing moving to his. He took caution with his next move, he slowly put his hand over hers.

"I wish I was like a sunset, constantly changing colors."

"Why?" When he spoke he sounded anxious.

"I want to be beautiful. All my life I was always avoided, because of..." She looked at the window then started crying when she saw her bright red iris.

"That's not true." When he spoke, his next words came out hesitant.

"I think your beautiful" She stopped crying and looked up at him.

"You do?" "We're ghouls, we aren't supposed to feel this way." Kaneki grabbed her hand, he was feeling all sorts of things. He tried to clear his head at the scene unraveling before him.

"No one thinks that." Their bodies slowly leaned together. Two things happened at the moment; The sunset was over, and their bodies met connecting their lips together.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The clock read "10:45 am" as Kaneki forcefully made his aching body get out of bed. He faintly remembered he promised to meet Hide at the local library to check out some new books and tag along for a trip to the mall. After what felt like hours, he was finally fully dressed and ready to go, as he turned toward the door he was startled to see it open first.

"Hey" Kaneki almost lost his breathe to see Touka in a nice vibrant colored dress, which was a very rare occasion. "Hey" "I made you this" Kaneki looked down to see a steaming hot cup of coffee in her hand as she placed it on the dresser in his room. Before he could say thank you she quickly went down stairs to continue working. While closing his door, he glanced at the window recalling the kiss he and Touka shared late last night. All his life he wondered what it felt like to share a bond with someone that you can love and trust for the rest of your life, but could he and Touka really do that in this messed up world considering what they were? A quick glance at his phone and it said ''10:55'', oh man was Hide gonna be mad. He drank his coffee and bolted out the door screaming "Thank you" to Touka. He ran for so long his legs burned, and he even considered joining his school's track team.

"You're late..."

"But I'm here like I promised.'' Hide and Kaneki both burst into laughter, he was grateful to have a friend like Hide, someone who will always be there. After walking around for 10 minutes they decided to skip the library and head straight for the mall.

"Kaneki, can we stop at the video game store?"

"Sure"

"I need to find the new Dragon ball Z game, here it is!" As Hide was paying for his game, Kaneki was stopped by a woman who was trying to sell him some brand of expensive perfume. "Come on, surely you know a young lady who you'll want to buy for, after all Christmas is right around the corner!" "h-huh" an image of Touka popped into his mind. "You know what, I'll buy it," He walked away with a bright purple and pink gift bag, how on earth was he going to explain this to Hide? "Hey man who's that for?" he swore in his head and turned to face his friend. "I-It's for a friend..." Hide nudged his arm "Oh I get it, a present for Touka!''

As he spoke he could feel his cheeks turning red, "I just wanted to surprise her with something n-nice.." Hide threw him a glance and laughed "Don't worry man she'll love it.'' Kaneki smiled and looked at the present "You think so?"


End file.
